There's no such thing as Canadian geese

Shell-crappies neither

That big black and white goose is a favorite among waterfowl hunters, but many don’t seem to know they aren’t called Canadian geese. This is probably one of the most commonly mistaken words among hunters, and it makes sense why. It’s a goose, it’s from Canada, so it makes sense to call them Canadian geese! But, their proper name is actually Canada geese. There’s no such thing as Canadian geese.

A lot of outdoorsmen enjoy stretching lines across two trees in rivers and lakes, loading the lines up with baited hooks, then waiting on catfish to bite. “I can’t wait to hit the river to set some trout lines this weekend,” is a fairly common phrase among these passive anglers, but it’s incorrect. Why would you set a trout line in the Pee Dee River, where nary a rainbow, brown, brooke, or even a speckled trout lives? Trot lines catch catfish, not trout lines.

“Where’d you catch that sheepshead?” isn’t an unreasonable question, but don’t let anyone answer it by telling you they caught it next to a bridge or pier pylon. Pylons are for construction zones. Pilings are the pier and bridge poles that you catch sheepshead near.

While ending a day of fishing, I once asked a guy I saw at the boat landing if he’d had any luck. “Caught a bunch of shell-crappies!” he said. A bunch of what? “Shell-crappies. You know, these bream-looking things,” he answered as he pulled a shellcracker out of his 5-gallon bucket. Shell-crappie does sound catchy, but no such fish exists.

Next time you’re bass fishing and your partner tells you to “drop the trolly motor so we can sneak up on them,” don’t look around the boat lost. He’s talking about that electric motor on the front of the boat – yes, the trolling motor.

One of the most popular deer rifle scopes looks tougher to pronounce than it actually is. Leupold, which is the name of the family who founded the company, is pronounced Loo-pold, and most hunters I’ve encountered pronounce that properly, even the ones setting trout lines near bridge pylons.